How to Speed Up Your PC's Slowest Component: You

Whether your computer has the latest Ryzen 2700X CPU or a five-year-old Celeron, the biggest bottleneck isn't processing power or storage speed. It's you. Just think about how many times your PC sits there waiting for you to type the next word, double click on an icon to launch an app or select a key feature from a menu.

Some of the lag comes from the human decision making process. If you're writing an email and don't know exactly what to say then you may pause for a moment to think before you type any more. However, there's plenty of rote, physical tasks that you could do a lot faster.

Follow these tips and upgrade yourself from a Pentium to a Core i9.

I. Use keyboard shortcuts to open apps

Every time you roll your mouse pointer across the screen, open the start menu and click on an icon, you're wasting precious seconds. You're also unnecessarily lifting your hands off of the keyboard home row, which also slows your workflow.

Fortunately, in Windows 10, it's easy to create keyboard shortcuts that will let you open your favorite programs with a single key combination. Just follow these steps.

1. Open a command prompt window with admin privileges. You can get there finding the Command Prompt shortcut (you can just search "command"), right clicking on it and selected "Run as Administrator."

2. Type "explorer shell:AppsFolder." A list of icons appears.

3. Drag the icon of your choice onto the desktop. It will create a shortcut.

4. Right click on the shortcut and select properties.

5. Put a hot key that contains CTRL + ALT + [letter or number] in the shortcut key field and click Ok.

II. Use a fingerprint or facial login for Windows

Typing your Windows password requires a number of keystrokes and the stronger your password, the longer it takes to enter. Use Windows 10's "Hello" feature to log in with a glance or a swipe.

To set up Windows Hello, navigate Settngs -> Accounts ->Sign-in options. The click "Add another" or "Setup" under the Fingerprint or Face Recognition headers.

III. Use dual monitors to increase your work area.

You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much screen real estate. When you're at your desk, you need at least two separate monitors to help compartmentalize your work. You can buy a pair of budget PC monitors for as little as $250.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Billion Photos

Once you have your screens set up, use the hit Windows + Right Arrow and Windows + Left Arrow to snap your apps to the sides of your screens.

Launching an app with a keystroke is really helpful but what if you want to type a long string of text like your email signature or navigate to a submenu in Photoshop? Autohotkey lets you program hotkeys that will do just about anything you can image in Windows. To get started with Autohotkey:

2. Open SciTE4AutoHotkey and type "::sig::" at the top, followed by your address.

3. Save your hot keys file and put it in the startup folder so it's always running when you boot up. The startup folder is located at C:Users[YOUR USERNAME]AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup

From now on, when you type "sig" and hit the space bar in any application, your entire signature will appear. You can also create shortcut keys that do things like crop photos in Photoshop Elements (when Adobe itself doesn't provide a key for that). To find out how to manipulate menus and more, see this detailed guide to Autohotkey on our sister site, Laptop Mag.

V. Learn to type faster.

No matter how many keyboard shortcuts you learn (or create), you need to be a touch typist in order to use them. If you can't already type at a rate of at least 80 words per minute, use a free tool such as 10FastFingers.com to up your game.

Image Credit: Shutterstock / Gajus

VI. Find words instead of scrolling around looking for them

Every day you visit web sites and you're looking for particular word. Maybe you're reading a product review and you want to find the price or the rating. Better still, you might be filling out a long web form and just want to find the email address field.

Rather than scroll down, searching for what those terms, you can just use CTRL + F (for find) and start typing the relevant text. Hit enter to jump to the next instance of that text.

VII. Assign default programs for every file type.

It happens all the time, you go to open an image in Photoshop and double click the JPG file, but instead, it opens in Windows Photo. Or perhaps you go to open a TXT file in Notepad, but you double click it and it opens in Word.

To configure the default programs for every file type, navigate to Settings->Apps->Default apps. Then click each type of app to change it. We definitely recommend changing your default browser from Edge to Chrome or Firefox.

VIII. Learn the following built-in keyboard shortcuts

CTRL + A: Select all

CTRL + W: Close a window

CTRL + Arrow: Skip back and forth a word in documents

CTRL + Windows Key + Arrow: Snap a window

CTRL + S: Save

CTRL + P: Print

CTRL + Z: Undo

CTRL + Y: Redo

CTRL + O: Open

CTRL + V: Paste

CTRL + SHIFT + V: Paste text without formatting

CTRL + C: Copy

CTRL + X: Cut

CTRL + T: New tab

CTRL+SHIFT+ T: Restore the last tab you closed

F11: Toggle full screen mode

IX. Increase the number of search results in Google

By default, Google only shows you 10 results per page. But what if the result you want is actually number 15 or 25? Rather than clicking next five times, you can set Google to show as many as 50 results per page.

Facebook and Twitter are addictive drugs that I'm tempted to load when I start feeling bored or frustrated with my work. Sometimes, before I even realize what I'm doing, I've typed in the URL of one of these sites and loaded it.

No matter what non-work sites you find yourself going to without thinking, you can and should block them when you're trying to get work done. There are several browser extensions that will selectively block sites for you, but my favorite is stayfocusd, which gives you fine grain control over which sites you can and cannot view during the day. You can schedule time limits for each site, but I prefer to use the extensions "nuclear option" which stops you from viewing sites on your blacklist at all.

XI. Limit notifications from apps

If you're not distracting yourself by visiting the wrong websites, your computer could be distracting you with notifications. Sure, it's nice to know that Adobe Reader just updated itself or that you just received an unimportant email, but when those alerts pop-up on your screen, they bring your train of thought to a screeching halt.

Fortunately, Windows 10 provides ways to limit or even eliminate notifications from apps. To turn all app notifications off, just navigate to the action center and toggle the Quiet Hours button to on (by default, it just runs from 12 am to 6 pm).

If you want to control which apps can send notifications and which cannot, navigate to Settings->System->Notifications & actions and go through the list of all apps that are notification-capable.

And, if you're tired of getting notifications from websites in Chrome, simply navigate to chrome://settings/content/notifications and toggle "Ask before sending" to off (aka "Blocked.").

XII. Pin important folders to the Quick access bar in Explorer

In Windows, it's always easy to get to the documents, pictures, videos or music folders, but most of the time, the files for our projects live either in a subfolder of one of these libraries or in a completely different location on the storage drive. To avoid clicking 20 times to navigate to an important folder, you can "pin" it to the Quick access bar in Windows explorer.

Just use Explorer (Windows key + E) to navigate to the folder you want to pin and then drag it onto the Quick access toolbar on the left side of the screen. You can even drag it higher or lower on the bar.

XIII. Use a password manager

Photo Credit: Tom's Guide / Sean Riley

The stronger your passwords, the longer they take to type and the easier they are to forget. Use a third-party password manager like Dashlane or Lastpass to not only store your logins but change them quickly in the event of a data breach. That way you can choose random, non-sensical passwords like E6g%Bnp*7-SnE*wers#*yyK, without having to waste keystrokes or brain cells.

Bottom Line

The tips above provide just a few of the many ways that you can work faster, with fewer distractions and fewer unnecessary key strokes. Every time you change your behaviors, your computer gets faster because of your quicker input. Your PC is waiting so what are you waiting for?

Have some of your own time-saving tips that we didn't mention here? Share them in the comments section below.

Avram Piltch is Tom's Hardware's editor-in-chief. When he's not playing with the latest gadgets at work or putting on VR helmets at trade shows, you'll find him rooting his phone, taking apart his PC or coding plugins. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram developed many real-world benchmarks, including our laptop battery test.

I use a gaming mouse with programmable buttons and profiles to do copy/paste, home/end and previous/next with one click. In games the mouse uses dedicated profiles, so there is no interference. I only need to use the keyboard to type words now, haven't figured out how do this with the mouse

peat99

so ironic that I only read this article through a (distracting) notification. Good article though.

TJ Hooker

Another shortcut I only found out about in the last couple years that can be really handy:

Windows Key + arrow key

You can snap your current window to either side of the screen using the left and right arrows, while up and down can maximize and un-maximize (or minimize) respectively. It also allows you to snap a window to the inside edge(s) of a multi monitor setup, something I don't know how to do any other way.

phenomiix6

About macros, be extra careful if you play Rust, because the amateurs at FacePunch and Easy Anti Cheat have been summarily banning people for using them - both keyboard and mouse macros - even if they don't have any relation at all with the game. Some people have been banned simply for having a macro program installed - including programs that come with the devices like Razer Synapse and Logitech Gaming Software (LGS) - even if they weren't using any macros at all.

zodiacfml

It was only recently that I was able to work on a desktop with two monitors. After a few months of work, I realized that it is isn't much productive at all. Turning your head between the two monitors is also inconvenient and less faster than an alt-tab or a switching between virtual desktops.

It seems to me that it multiple monitors were more useful back then when monitors were quite small, less than 20 inches.

Multiple displays though is still useful for monitoring such as stocks or CCTV cameras.

ElectrO_90

This is the same for people who want to make their car go faster and make it lighter by stripping it.Diet for the Driver - is normally the best weight saving way to go

bit_user

120171 said:

Quote:

Follow these tips and upgrade yourself from a Pentium to a Core i9.

No thanks. I want to be EPYC.

Uh, for that you need quad-brain, which is a rather extreme mod. And much like EPYC's 8-channel memory, you'll need 8 eyeballs to keep all those brains busy.

Dosflores

Dual monitors is the cheapest way to increase your screen real estate. Investing in a 34'' 3440x1440 monitor is the best way.

I find that it's best to invest in great I/O devices rather than in great CPUs. You don't know how much nicer a Cherry MX Blue keyboard makes your typing experience until you use it. A good mouse is also a must. You don't need the greatest gaming mouse; just one with at least four nice-feeling buttons.

I can't believe that I didn't know about application keyboard shortcuts until now. It's too late, though. I'm used to the Windows quick search to launch the application I need. If I press Windows Key, F, Enter, then I'll get Firefox open, since Firefox is the first result that comes up as soon as I press F in the search field.

There are two Windows keyboard shortcuts worth mentioning, in case newbies don't know them:Alt + Tab: Switch between windows.Ctrl + Tab: Switch between tabs. This will be really useful for the next version of Windows 10, when Windows Sets are available for everyone.

BTW, macOS really sucks in this regard. Command + Tab switches between applications, not between individual windows. If anyone knows how to change this behavior, I'd be grateful to know.

The recommendation to learn to type at least 80 words per minute is overkill. First things first: buy a good mechanical keyboard. Then learn to leverage it until you're happy about your performance.

Finally, the "use a fingerprint or facial login" and "use a pasword manager" recommendations are indeed useful to work faster, but only if you don't care about security and privacy at all. The more convenient an authentication system is, the less secure it is.

bit_user

191196 said:

It was only recently that I was able to work on a desktop with two monitors. After a few months of work, I realized that it is isn't much productive at all. Turning your head between the two monitors is also inconvenient and less faster than an alt-tab or a switching between virtual desktops.
It seems to me that it multiple monitors were more useful back then when monitors were quite small, less than 20 inches.

I tried dual-monitor with CRTs, back in the day. I ended up leaving one turned off, because I quickly noticed the difference of 250 W additional heat in my small office.

Fast forward to now, and I'm still a one-big-monitor-to-rule-them-all guy. My dream is a 4k 32" 16:9 or 16:10. But I'm waiting on a gfx card for that, so still at 2560x1440 @ 27".

191196 said:

Multiple displays though is still useful for monitoring such as stocks or CCTV cameras.

When I used two, I'd put docs on one and my code on the other. I could still imagine having a smaller, secondary monitor for watching the progress of builds or tests.

bloodroses

A lot of useful common things suggested there. Most of which I've used at work (outside password/ fingerprint scanners). The macros are most definitely handy; as well as multi monitor setups (I was using 3 at one point for Matlab/Simulink). Windows+arrow keys become extremely useful for moving windows around between corners and different screens.

As for a mechanical blue keyboard like someone had suggested, it does indeed speed up typing once you get used to it. I have one at home. However, I know better than to use one at work since the clacking noise will cause it to either disappear or be busted over my head... lol

I did noticed one thing missed that is quite useful, and that is staying organized against clutter. There's nothing worse than tons of icons scattered all over my desktop and files stored all over the place. Setting up and organization folder scheme really does help trying to find that backed up file from 3 months ago. With the desktop, I ended up using a 3rd party program called Fences; which made it easy to group icons together.

Lastly, I'm rather surprised coffee or Red Bull wasn't mentioned as it's really hard for me to be any form of productive in the morning without my morning dose of caffeine.

bit_user

1069610 said:

Lastly, I'm rather surprised coffee or Red Bull wasn't mentioned as it's really hard for me to be any form of productive in the morning without my morning dose of caffeine.

Or try green tea, fish oil, and B vitamins. If that doesn't do it, try eating more protein and fewer carbs.

I stopped drinking energy drinks years ago. I pour a cup of black coffee in the morning, but usually can't be bothered to finish it by the end of the day. And I sleep less than most people I know.

Malik 722

a huge thanks.

martinch

191196 said:

It was only recently that I was able to work on a desktop with two monitors. After a few months of work, I realized that it is isn't much productive at all. Turning your head between the two monitors is also inconvenient and less faster than an alt-tab or a switching between virtual desktops.
It seems to me that it multiple monitors were more useful back then when monitors were quite small, less than 20 inches

I guess it depends on what you're doing and how your brain works. I have 2x 25" 2560x1440 monitors at work, and one at home - when working from home, I really miss the second monitor. It's really handy to have the primary application (Visual Studio) full-screen on one monitor, and secondary applications (requirements document and Git) on the other - ALT-TABing doesn't work for me in this situation

1707150 said:

Dual monitors is the cheapest way to increase your screen real estate. Investing in a 34'' 3440x1440 monitor is the best way.

Depends what you're doing, but I prefer two monitors, if only for Aero "snap" working to easily give you 4 equally-sized windows (also, 2x 2560x1440 monitors gives you more pixels...).

1707150 said:

I find that it's best to invest in great I/O devices rather than in great CPUs. You don't know how much nicer a Cherry MX Blue keyboard makes your typing experience until you use it. A good mouse is also a must. You don't need the greatest gaming mouse; just one with at least four nice-feeling buttons.

This is true.

1707150 said:

"use a pasword manager" recommendations are indeed useful to work faster, but only if you don't care about security and privacy at all.

Nonsense. Done badly, they're a very big issue, but done well, they increase security. Using a password manager means you can easily have unique strong logins for every system/web site you use - looking at mine, there's about 200 in there - there's absolutely no way I'm remembering that many unique 20+ character passwords! Using a single strong password plus secondary authentication to access the password database should be absolutely fine. There's a reason why security authorities like Bruce Schneier recommend them.

Dosflores

1614836 said:

if only for Aero "snap" working to easily give you 4 equally-sized windows (also, 2x 2560x1440 monitors gives you more pixels...).

Why would you want 4 equally-sized windows? That would only be useful if you use 4 equally-important applications/documents. I think screen real estate is far more important than pixels unless you're an artist or video editor. With a big 3440x1440 monitor, you can have Visual Studio on the center of the screen, and it will be the larger window. Then you can have the requirements document to its left and Git to its right. You don't have to turn your neck when using your main window; only the few times that you use a secondary window.

1614836 said:

Using a single strong password plus secondary authentication to access the password database should be absolutely fine. There's a reason why security authorities like Bruce Schneier recommend them.

I'd rather think about the issue than follow recommendations. The basic rule is: there isn't a single system that is fully secure. And hackers have lots of time to research and lots of crazy ideas. Just take a look at all the Meltdown/Spectre debacle. If you use a password database, and it gets hacked, then all your passwords will be stolen. Your whole security chain will rely on a single link. It doesn't matter how strong that link seems; any link can be broken. I'd trust anyone telling me that an authentication system is absolutely fine as much as I'd trust Zuckerberg telling me that they're going to protect my data absolutely fine.

TJ Hooker

Quote:

If you use a password database, and it gets hacked, then all your passwords will be stolen. Your whole security chain will rely on a single link. It doesn't matter how strong that link seems; any link can be broken.

In my experience, the vast majority of websites let you reset your password via email. So your security still relies on a single link: your email.

Dosflores

1636679 said:

In my experience, the vast majority of websites let you reset your password via email. So your security still relies on a single link: your email.

Websites like Tom's Hardware do. Websites that offer important services and care about security offer two-factor authentication. E-mail services are one of them. In order to get your e-mail hacked, both your password and your phone are required. SMS-based two-factor authentication can be hacked remotely, but it requires a keen interest in doing so. Unless you're an important person, no one will bother trying. Authentication app-based two-factor authentication requires stealing your phone and hacking it.

Convenient password managers are the very greatest security risk. All your passwords are stored in their databases in a way that allows decryption. They're an appealing target for hacking. Unix-like systems disable the root account by default nowadays for that very same reason: hackers know every Unix-like system has a root account that has full access to the system, and it's protected by a single password. So trying to find that password is the most effective way to hack the full system. Trying to hack a password database would be the most effective way to hack lots of systems and accounts.

TJ Hooker

@DosfloresPassword managers also offer 2FA.

For LastPass at least, your passwords are encrypted locally with symmetric encryption. So even if the LastPass servers/databases are compromised in some way, a hacker can't gain gain access to your passwords unless they know your LastPass password. In which case they'd still need your 2FA device.

Dosflores

1636679 said:

@Dosflores
Password managers also offer 2FA.
For LastPass at least, your passwords are encrypted locally with symmetric encryption. So even if the LastPass servers/databases are compromised in some way, a hacker can't gain gain access to your passwords unless they know your LastPass password. In which case they'd still need your 2FA device.

2FA is useless if the database is hacked.

How does LastPass' multi-device sync work? If the encryption key is stored locally, you won't be able to use your passwords from other devices.

TJ Hooker

For Lastpass, a decryption key and hash are generated from your password. When logging in, your hashed password is sent to lastpass, which then sends you your encrypted password vault. It's then decrypted locally using the key generated from your password, which never leaves your device.

You're right about the 2FA being worthless if Lastpass gets hacked. But that still means that someone would have to hack Lastpass and obtain your Lastpass password in order to compromise your accounts.

As an aside, what you said earlier about individual sites "that offer important services" offering 2FA isn't always true. Like all Canadian banks, as far as I can tell.

Dosflores

1636679 said:

For Lastpass, a decryption key and hash are generated from your password. When logging in, your hashed password is sent to lastpass, which then sends you your encrypted password vault. It's then decrypted locally using the key generated from your password, which never leaves your device.
You're right about the 2FA being worthless if Lastpass gets hacked. But that still means that someone would have to hack Lastpass and obtain your Lastpass password in order to compromise your accounts.
As an aside, what you said earlier about individual sites "that offer important services" offering 2FA isn't always true. Like all Canadian banks, as far as I can tell.

So in case of a hack, your security depends exclusively on the strength of your Lastpass password. I still don't see why I should pay for that instead of using different passwords for different important services. It's more convenient; not more secure.

And I literally said "that offer important services and care about security". Banks don't care about security. If your money gets stolen, you can sue them and eventually you'll get it back. It's not convenient, but banks rely on your need for them, no matter how convenient they are.

TJ Hooker

And if your email gets hacked, your security depends exclusively on the security of your 2FA device. You use a very strong password for your manager, which is the point of having a manager in the first place (only having to remember one password, thus allowing you to make it very strong).

I never said password managers were more secure. You're the one who equated using a password manager as "you don't care about security and privacy at all". I'm pointing out that a password manager can be plenty secure if used properly. Also, some are free.

Regarding banks: you're saying that if someone managed to get my password and gain access to my account (without the bank's servers being compromised in any way), and then transferred out all my money or something, I could sue them (and win)?

Dosflores

1636679 said:

And if your email gets hacked, your security depends exclusively on the security of your 2FA device. You use a very strong password for your manager, which is the point of having a manager in the first place (only having to remember one password, thus allowing you to make it very strong).
I never said password managers were more secure. You're the one who equated using a password manager as "you don't care about security and privacy at all". I'm pointing out that a password manager can be plenty secure if used properly. Also, some are free.
Regarding banks: you're saying that if someone managed to get my password and gain access to my account (without the bank's servers being compromised in any way), and then transferred out all my money or something, I could sue them (and win)?

If my e-mail and its 2FA gets hacked, the only security that is compromised is that e-mail account (since I have several different ones, each with its own password and 2FA) and any service I use that e-mail account for. If "the last password you'll ever need" and its 2FA gets hacked, every service you use is compromised.

The password manager is plenty secure if it is used properly and it doesn't get hacked. Just the same as remembering lots of passwords and enabling 2FA wherever you can. The latter is more secure because you reduce the breadth of possible damage, which is one of the pillars of security. The former is a lot more convenient. But I would never rely my security on a company willing to provide security for free.

Regarding banks: it depends on your country's laws. Modern laws will obviously let you win easily, since a password can't be equated to a signature.